THE CANADIAN PRESS
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Canadian teenager Milos Raonic ended the best week of his tennis career Friday when he lost to fellow qualifier Igor Andreev 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the Malaysian Open.
The 19-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., exits after winning his first two matches at the senior level of the ATP Tour.
Raonic, ranked 237th in the world, was finally stopped by the 102-ranked Russian, a former top-20 player with three titles to his credit.
Also Friday, top-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden was eliminated after dropping a 6-3, 6-2 decision to Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan in just 71 minutes.
Raonic (pronounced ray-o-nich) was held to just six aces after producing double figures in his first two victories. The six-foot-five Canadian lost his serve three times and admitted that the loss came down to a contrast in experience between himself and his opponent.
"He started off strong, I knew he would be 100 per cent from the start," said Raonic, whose goal is to climb into the Top 150 in hopes of being seeded for the Australian Open qualifying rounds in January.
"I wasn’t able to find my way into the match. I hadn’t lost serve in my last two matches. When he broke me twice, he started to believe a bit more.
"He put pressure on me from the beginning and never let me really get into the match."
Still Raonic saw positives.
"It’s still been a good week, good motivation," he said. "I can see my work is paying off. This is where I want to be, just keeping on working and plugging away."
Raonic upset seventh seed Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine and defeated Russian Igor Kunitsyn earlier in the week.
Golubev broke the hard-serving Soderling four times Friday while saving all four break points he faced. The fifth-ranked Swede struggled with his consistency, mixing five aces with six double faults.
Golubev will next face David Ferrer of Spain, who outlasted third-seeded Thomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, after the Wimbledon runner-up double-faulted on match point.
Fourth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia also rallied from a set down to beat No. 6 Marco Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-1. He will next play Andreev.
Golubev won his first tour title in Hamburg three months ago, and looks set to quickly climb the rankings from his current spot at No. 41.
"I just tried my best but didn’t expect to register a straight-set victory," said the 23-year-old Golubev, who lives in Italy. "I believe I can break into the top 20 soon and my performance here in Malaysia will give me some extra confidence."
The 11th-ranked Ferrer registered his fourth consecutive victory and fifth in seven meetings against Berdych.
Ferrer broke Berdych in the 12th game of the second set to even the match, but then lost his serve to trail 4-3 in the decider. But the Spaniard broke right back and clinched the match on Berdych’s double fault.
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With files from The Associated Press.